The Reformed Presbyterian Standard and also 0\ir ... - Rparchives.org

September 9, 1914.
A FAMILY PAPER.
E D I T O R I A L
John W. Pritchard, Editor.
TEE KULE FOE THE WOESHIP OF GOD.
The United Presbyterian Assembly adopted a
deliverance at its late session which ever since
has been the subject of contention at its constituent
presbyteries. It was to the effect that "We
hereby declare that the 18th Article of the Testimony
does not prohibit the singing of other inspired
Scriptures than those of the Psalms in
the public worship of God. * * * That the exercise
of such freedom in the use of inspired
Scripture for the purpose of impulse and instruction
in the way of life and for the comfort of
believers, shall be at the discretion and under the
control of the sessions." The paper from which
we take this insists that such a deliverance simply
permits chants and anthems to be sung in
"public worship" when such are sung in the
words of the King James version. This would
seem to put the seal of inspiration upon a version;
which came into acceptance slowly and under circumstances
of a very uninspired nature. But others
insist that Watts gave the sense of inspired
Scripture better than the king's revisers Sid.
Some even go so far as to maintain that the Gospel
songs ai'e more scriptural than Rouse. One
doctor of divinity in the progress of the debate
maintained that "the Reformed view of worship
is that whatsoever is not commanded in Scripture
is forbidden," which will seem to most logicians
and Protestants as complete a reversal of
the Gospel and the Reformation as it is possible
to conceive, both having liberty for a base. Slowly
but surely all our Protestant churches are getting
around to the Protestant position that whateyer
the Bible does not forbid the church cannot
forbid, either in doctrine, worship or conduct,.
whether that church he represented by a Pope or
a Presbytery or a Federation of Denominations.
—The Pcesbyterian Examiner, August 6.
And (David) said unto them. Ye are the
chief of the fathers of the Levites; sanctify
yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye
may bring up the ark of the Lord God of
Israel unto the place that I have prepared for
it. For because ye did it not at the first, the
Lord our God made a breach upon us for that
we sought him not after the due order.—-1
Chronicles 15:12, 13.
ISladab and Abihu's "Strange Fire."—Their
sin in the form in which it was committed,
can never be repeated; but as regards its inner
nature and essence, no sin has been in all ages
more common. For the essence of their sin was
this, that it was will worship; worship in
which they consulted not the revealed will of
God regarding the w^ay in which he would be
served, but their own fancies and inclinations.
The directions for worship had been, as we
have seen, exceedingly full and explicit; but
they apparently imagined that the fragrance
of their incense, and its intrinsic suitableness
as a symbol of adoration and prayer, was sufficient
to excuse neglect of strict obedience to
the revealed will of God touching his own
worship. Their sin was not unlike that of Saul
in a later day, who thought to excuse disobedience
by the offering of enormous sacrifices. But
he was sharply reminded that "to obey is bet-
ter than sacrifice" (I Samuel 15:22); and the
priesthood were in like manner on this occasion
very terribly taught that obedience is also
better than incense, even the incense of the
sanctuary. In all ages, men have been prone
to commit this sin, and in ours as much as any.
It is true that in the present dispensation the
Lord has left more in his worship than in earlier
days to the sanctified judgment of his people,
and has not minutely prescribed details
for our direction. It is true, again, that there
is, and always will be, room for some difierence
of judgment among good and loyal servants
of the Lord, as to how far the liberty
left us extends. But we are certainly all
taught as much as this, that wherever we are
not clear that we have a divine warrant for
what we do in the worship of God, we need to
• be exceedingly careful, and to act with holy
fear, lest possibly, like Nadab and Abihu, we
be chargeable with offering "strange fire,"
which the Lord has not commanded. And when
one goes into a church and chapel, and sees
the multitude of remarkable devices by which,
as is imagined, the worship and adoration of
God is furthered, it must be confessed that it
certainly seems as if the generation of Nadab
and Abihu was not yet extinct; even although
a patient God, in the mystery of his long
suffering, flashes not instantly forth his vengeance
If so, then, although
their sin may not be repeated in its exact form
among us, yet the fact points a very solemn
warning, not only regarding the careless use
of strong drink, but, more than that, against
all religious worship and activity which is inspired
by other stimulus than by the Holy
Sprit of God. Of this every age of the
Church's history has furnished sad examples.
Sometimes we see it illustrated in "revivals,"
even in such as may be marked by some evidence
of the presence of the Spirit of God;
when injudicious speakers seek by various
methods to work up what is, after all, merely
a physical excitement of a strange, infectious
kind, though too often mistaken for the work
of the Holy Spirit of God. More subtle and
yet more common is the sin of such as in
preaching the Word find their chief stimulation
in the excitement of a crowded house, or
the visible signs of approbation on the part of
the hearers; and perhaps sometimes mistake
the natural effect of this influence for the
quickening power of the Holy Ghost, and go
on to offer before the Lord the incense of their
religious service and worship, but with "strange
fire." Of this all need to beware; and most
of all, ministers of the Word.—The Expositors'
Bible, Leviticus, by Eev. Dr. S. H. Kellogg,
Chapter XII.
So the Westminster Standard:—The Confession
of Faith, The Larger Catechism, The
Shorter Catechism. E. G. Question 51: What
is forbidden in the Second Commandment
Answer: The Second Commandment forbiddeth
the worshipping of God by images, or any
other way not appointed in his Word.
STEENGTH THEOUGH WEAKNESS.
When God makes a man weak, it is not always
a cause for mourning, nor even for prayer
for a return to former health. When a minister
is overwhelmed by the feeling of the failure
of his work, it may be about time for his
friends to give thanks. A missionary stricken
down by malaria seems a mystery of providence,
and a triumph of Satan. But to one
missionary so weakened and praying for relief,
God said, "My strength is made perfect
in weakneiss," and refused to restore the health.
In "The Church in the Roman Empire," W.
M. Eamsay urges that "the thom in the flesh"
of Paul was probably malarial fever, whieh
first took him at Pamphylia and stayed with
him off and on through later years, "catching
him by the heel" just at the most inopportune
times. Missionaries have often suffered from
this trouble, and for the time it seems to make
work impossible. But God, who had so often
saved the life of Paul by a miracle, and had
healed others through him, now refused to take
away this thom from the flesh. Instead, He
revealed the purpose of the disease—strength
made perfect through wteakiiess. May the
Christian not always fitudit so
Saul had worked against God and found it
"kicking against the goads." Now Paul was
working fqr God, and God needed a man of
perfect strength. So He allowed Paul to get
the malaria on his firstmissionary journey and
refused to give him a permanent cure. His
strength must become God's strength, and
God's strength was to be made perfect in man's
weakness. Notice the process.
We have made our firststep toward the per
fection of strength when we realize that though
we could wrestle against flesh and blood, we
cannot wrestle with principalities and powers,
and spiritual wickedness in high places. It
may take us a long time to find that out, but
it will be the discovery of a fact. A newly ordained
minister, a new Christian, a new worker
is likely to have large hopes—and to be soon
disappointed. He trasts too much in the apparent
fitnessof outward service, and in the
ability of the will to make a way. God lets him
stagger that he may bring him to his knees.
So the race starting out from Eden was to
find thorns and thistles growing in the field,
lest man be exalted over much. So the tribes
were dispersed from Babel to straggle in conquering
the earth, that the pride of united
strength might not lead to moral weakness and
sin. We may learn the lesson of our own
weakness in prosperity and in spite of success,
but it is difficult. We do not always learn that
lesson even from "the thom in the flesh," but
we may. When we feel our weakness, then we
are on the road to strength.
We need to be ready to receive strength
from God, not a visible strength that we may
count our own, but an invisible strength that
needs continually to be received. Some of the
best sermons ever preached have been delivered
after the minister decided that nothing but an